[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Eleven: Texting


Kelsey slid under the bubbles in the bathtub, her eyes closed and listened to the hum of the ceramic and the pipes of other rooms, tinny and far away, and imagined not surfacing. Her nose tickled with soapy water and she wondered what Desmond would do when he found her. It'd take him hours to get the balls up to go in and check on her, she thought to herself, hours before he'd find her. She'd be long gone.

She surfaced, gasping for air, swiping at the bubbles that stuck to her eyelashes, her hair hanging down her spine. She spit water that had gone up her nose into her throat and coughed loudly, the sound echoing off the tiled walls. She reached for the drain between her feet and pulled the rubber blocking the water from evacuating the tub and stood, the bubbles sliding down her smooth skin to the tub below. She stepped out, her arms cold, and shivered as she tugged a soft hotel towel around her body.

She'd forgotten her pajamas, she realized, and she reached for the door and creaked it open to peek out at Desmond. "Desi," she hissed. "Desi? Can you toss me my pajamas?" but he didn't move. He was asleep, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, and she thought to herself that it would've been the next day before he would've found her, had she really drowned herself.

Quickly, she scuttled across the room to the suitcase at the foot of the bed she had claimed, and ruffled through until she found a clean set of pajama pants and an old t-shirt emblazoned with the name of some baseball player that no longer played for the Sox. She grabbed a pair of socks printed with little mustaches, too, but one slipped through her fingers and she bent down to fetch it from the floor. As she stood up straight, her grip on the towel slacked and the towel fell away from her fingers, too, and with a squeal, the breeze brushed her entire naked body. Frantic, she dropped all the clothes and snatched up the towel, her face flush, and pulled it tight around her. She glanced at Desi, grabbed the pajamas and the socks, then headed back to the bathroom, her heart racing.

Kelsey leaned against the door, the thought of Desi having seen her simultaneously exciting her and making her nauseated. She pulled on the pajamas and brushed her teeth, taking her time because she was embarassed to face Desmond's sleeping face, even if he hadn't seen her. She bent down and picked up her jeans and when she did, a piece of paper fluttered out of the pocket to the floor. She bent down and picked it up and found it was a folded paper crane. She studied it, then noticed, in tiny letters, the words unfold me were written on it's wing.

She sat down on the toilet bowl lid and unfolded the crane carefully, scared to rip it. When she'd unfurled the last of the folds, she found, scrawled across the center in very messy handwriting, a phone number.

She folded the jeans and carried the paper out to the bed and crawled in. She looked over at Desmond, fast asleep and draped across the bed like there was no tomorrow, and grabbed her cell phone off the night stand. She tapped out a message.

Hi, she wrote.

A moment later. So you found the crane.

I did. Is this Nick?

It is.

Kelsey smiled and snuggled into her pillows. She glanced at Desi, who hadn't moved a muscle since her towel had fallen, then turned back to the phone. She didn't really want Desmond looking at her as she lay there, grinning like a fool up at the cell phone texting a boy that was so far out of her league...

Why you up? he texted.

Couldn't sleep, she replied.

Me either, he typed. Working on Desi's song.

He wouldn't shut up about how cool it was to tape with you, Kelsey informed him. Do you really like the song?

Yeah.

Kelsey rubbed her elbow awkwardly. Good.

So whatcha doing? Nick texted. A moment later, Counting sheep?

Kelsey smirked, and typed, 67...68...69...

69?

Yeah.

Perverted sheep sex?

Kelsey laughed outloud the moment the words showed up on her phone and she covered her mouth and looked over at Desi, asleep, face smooshed into the pillows. You ass. You're gonna make me wake Desi up laughing like that!!! She grinned up at the phone, and rolled over, afraid the glow of the screen would wake Desmond. She hunkered down over the phone settled into the pillows and pulled the blankets over her head.

The phone was quiet and she worried Nick had taken her accusation seriously. Quickly she typed out, You still there?

A moment later, You ever seen the Parthenon?

In Greece?

Downtown.

No?

C'mon. I'm gonna show it to you.

What?

I'm parked outside.

Kelsey's heart skipped a beat and she crawled out of the bed and glanced at Desi as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, tugged her hair into a ponytail and snatched the door key from the top of the TV by his fedora. Desmond didn't move a muscle, even as she slipped through the door, and pulled it shut as gently as she could. She pulled her shoes on as she ran down the steps to the parking lot, and saw Nick's car idling beside Desmond's convertible. She glanced back at the room window to make sure the light wasn't snapping on, and it wasn't. She flung herself into Nick's passanger door.

"Hey," Kelsey said, looking at him, her heart racing. He was illuminated only by the lamps of the parking lot and the glowing neon of the dashboard controls.

A smile spread across his face, sending features of his face into sharp relief. "Hey," he said back.

Nick backed the car out of the space and they rolled out of the lot toward the main street, leaving behind the hotel and everything, and Kelsey realized that this was the first time she'd been somewhere in Nashville without Desmond. The city lights glowed against the black of night and the blue neon of the tips of the AT&T Building seemed to make the clouds glow as they floated by.

"I can't believe you haven't seen the Parthenon," Nick said, driving downtown.

"I haven't been here very long," Kelsey reminded him, "I haven't seen much beside the hotel and a few apartment complexes." She laughed and unrolled the window, sticking her hand out to let it float on the air. She felt a strange freedom coursing through her veins. "The air feels good," she said.

Nick grinned over at her. "Doesn't it?"

Kelsey grinned into the night and, as he watched her, Nick couldn't help but think of Nacho when he hung out the window and left drool streaks across the windows.

The car moved down First to Broadway and Kelsey looked around at the milling people, the bright neon lights of the bars and clubs and the towering Bridgestone Arena. The car moved onward, past all the sights and sounds of Nashville, the wafting scent of burgers and booze and sound of laughing drunk people dancing along the sidewalks to honky tonk music. Nick drove past an assortment of fast food places and hotels, and finally turned down a road that looked like an alley and parked beside a squat building with string lights surrounding the porch. "C'mon," he said, and he turned the car off.

Kelsey followed him as he stuffed a couple bucks into a parking meter. A homeless guy approached. "Got any spare change?" he begged. Nick shook his head. The guy turned to Kelsey, "Any spare change?"

"No, sorry," Kelsey replied.

"I'll drive ya to the McDonalds down the street and buy ya a burger if you're hungry, or else c'mon inside for coffee, but I don't have any money," Nick said, "But I'm sure that's not what you want, is it?"

"Just a couple bucks," the guy begged.

"Sorry," Nick answered, and he took Kelsey's hand and pulled her along behind him toward the squat building, leaving the guy behind. Kelsey followed close, staring up at Nick with a small smile on her mouth. He led the way into the building, which turned out to be a cafe. "You like coffee, right?" Nick asked as they stepped into a line that led to the counter.

"Yeah of course," she answered, looking around.

"Well then," Nick grinned, "You're gonna love this." He stepped up to the counter and ordered two of whatever it was he ordered (it had way more words than coffee in it though), and Kelsey glanced around, feeling a bit like a kid that had run away from home.

Nick turned to her, holding out a cup of iced coffee slush that oozed with carmel and chocolate shavings. "Now... for the Parthenon. It's a short walk from here, is that okay, or do you wanna drive?"

"Walking is good," she said. She sipped her drink, "Mmm, and so is this. Wow."

Nick grinned, "I wouldn't let'cha down."

Kelsey smiled and they stepped out of the cafe to the street, carrying their glasses as they moved along through the night, every step feeling deliciously rebellious in the pit of Kelsey's stomach. It occurred to her somewhere along the walk to the Parthenon that Nick had showed up so suddenly that she hadn't even left a note for Desmond.

Oh well, she thought to herself as she walked, He probably won't even know I've left in the first place. She pictured telling him about all this the next morning and his look of surprise at the thought that she could've gone without him knowing...